I'm terribly sorry it took so long to put up this chapter, but writers block is evil, and it doesn't help that I'm lazy. But I hope you like this chapter. And thanks to all who reviewed ..

She had finally stood, but she could not tear her eyes from the ground. As frightened as she was, she convinced herself that the person, or demon, or what ever they might be, at least didn't need to know she was scared. Slowly, she raised her eyes to look at him. He was a young man. Long blonde hair pulled back into a long braid. His face was soft, but strong. His eyes, enough to melt any girls heart, an ice blue-teal, and with a hint of violet when the light shined on them. Kagome held back a gasp.

"Hmm…What do we have here? A young female wandering the forest…alone?" said the handsome stranger.

Using all her strength, Kagome held back the fear threatening to surface in her voice, "I am not alone…Lower that spear."

In the middle of a thought, Inuyasha froze. What is that? I sense fear...and her scent… Kagome? He jumped through the branches of many trees until he found who he was looking for. Inuyasha sat upon a weathered branch, high above the two people below. He could tell Kagome was in danger, for a spear was too close for comfort to her face. He growled softly.

"Why should I lower-" Creak. The stranger was cut off. A sound came from above. Both he and Kagome looked up. He guessed it was the wind, or the age of the trees. He lowered his head back down, not to face the brunette, but to face a hanyou with a giant sword drawn.

Inuyasha growled, "Stay away from Kagome."

"Kagome? Is that the name of this young lady?" he said a little startled, "Well then," the man said, raising his spear for battle, "I am Kaji, and you will not stand in my way."

"Hah!" Inuyasha grunted. "Just try to get past me!"

Kaji smirked, then he raised an eyebrow in surprise. He lowered his spear slightly, and pulled something from inside his armor and held it up, revealing it to Inuyasha and Kagome. "So this is what you seek?"

Kagome's amber orbs widened, "A shard! Where did you get that?"

"From a demon I killed, Iyashii was his name."

"Hand it over," Inuyasha growled.

"Why does this piece of glass carry so much importance to you?" he questioned.

"Enough questions, hand it over, and I just might let you live."

Kaji stared Inuyasha in the face for a moment or two, then replied, "A shard of the Shikon Jewel…How very interesting…"

Kagome frowned, "How do you know that?"

"My dear Kagome, I have many strengths." Kaji replaced his spear to it's holder on his back, and smiled at the two. "Well, a half demon and a female human. It's not every day you see that combination." And he tossed the jewel shard up in the air, and Kagome caught it, instantly purifying it.

"Kagome! Where are you? It's getting late!" a voiced called near by. After a few moments Sango appeared, dressed in her armor. "There you are! We should be going…" She had noticed to her left, where a young man stood.

"Who are you?" said a curious kitsune. Shippo and Miroku had followed, and now arrived to see the scene.

Kaji bowed and introduced himself, and Kagome took a few moments to explain how they had met, leaving out the part that Kaji had almost attacked her. Once the introductions and explanations had passed, Sango spoke up and said, "Kagome, Inuyasha, we really should be going, everyone is rested now, and it's getting sort of late…"

"Feh, if we hadn't of wasted so much time with this guy it wouldn't be late," was Inuyasha's reply.

"My apologies. Let me show you the quickest path from this forest in repayment for my disturbance". The group readily agreed for the forest was thick, and hard to navigate directions being taken.

The group made it out of the forest quickly with the help of Kaji. As they neared the edge of the forest, Kagome came upon an idea. She didn't think Inuyasha would approve, but the others would. "Kaji," she spoke up. She continued, "I think you should continue with us." She looked at Kaji to see if he would agree. He said, "As long as I am not intruding."

Kagome looked at Inuyasha, and surprisingly, he grunted, "Feh."

He must be going soft. Kagome smirked at her own comment.

The group of now seven, followed a wide, lengthy trail that slowly curved, not knowing where it would take them. They were mostly in silence. Kagome was in thought, and very confused. For if Kaji had a shard of the Shikon Jewel, why did she not sense it. She slowed her walking pace to be next to Sango.
"Sango," she said quietly once she was sure no one was listening.
"Hmm?" Sango replied.

"I was thinking about earlier, when we met Kaji. I told you about the jewel shard, but I'm a little worried," she explained.

"Why is that?"

"I don't understand why I couldn't sense the shard. And you remember when we met Koga yesterday? Well I didn't sense his shards right away either…"

"That is very strange…I do not know why that has happened, but maybe your powers are just developing, it could be a temporary thing…"

Kagome sighed, "Maybe…" And little did she know, Inuyasha's petite ears heard all of this.

It was becoming dark as the sun started to lower itself into the horizon. The group found a suitable opening in the trees, not too far from the path, where they set camp. Shippou and Kirara chased each other, playing; Miroku, Sango and Kaji talked about various things; and Inuyasha and Kagome sat next to each other occasionally saying something, but mostly thinking.

In the morning the group packed up and continued along the path. They spent most of the day walking it. Along the way, they encountered a demon, which they struggled to destroy, but fortunately the demon possessed a shard, so their strong effort, energy and ripped clothing was not wasted. To their surprise, (and relief) they ended back at Kaede's village. The path had curved so much that they had hit a dead end, but continued, only to find they had returned to the community. With a day almost wasted, the group grumpy and tired, Kagome and Sango went to the hot springs; Miroku and Shippou decided to show Kaji around the village, and Inuyasha ventured to his favorite tree to relax in.

Meanwhile, Kagome and Sango were stripping their clothes to relax in the warm water and chatting about the other members in the group.

"…he was always quiet, but now even more than usual. It's almost like Inuyasha is more calm…" Sango was saying.

"Hmm…I didn't really notice it all that much…" Kagome said.

Sango shrugged, "At least he keeps his hands to himself. I've just about reached my limit with all the groping Miroku does!"

Kagome giggled, "Well how about Kaji?"

Sango blushed, "What about him?"

"I saw you two talking today. I think he likes you."

Sango blushed even more, "I don't think so…" She smiled to herself, she did think he was very handsome. She looked up at her friend, and smiled. But this smile quickly turned to a frown.
Kagome noticed, "What's wrong?"

"Kagome…What are those strange marks on your arm?"

"Hmm?" Kagome looked at her tricep, the upper arm. Her eyes widened in surprise, "I don't know, they weren't there earlier…"

Sango moved closer to inspect her arm. "Kagome…They're like…I think these are bite marks! Did that demon earlier today hurt you?"

"No! I haven't been bitten!"

"You should go to Keade, she'll probably know what it is."

"Well it's probably bug bites or something, I want to get in the spring first." Sango brushed it off, it probably was bug bites afterall.

They talked for a while in the tranquil setting. When there was a pause, Kagome moved closer to the edge of the spring to open the pouch Koga had given her two days ago. Inside was a beautiful flower, one she'd never seen before. She smiled. It had a vine attached so she could wear it in her hair. She'd wear her hair up tomorrow just to wear the attractive flower.

After the relaxation, the two women got out of the spring, and put their clothes back on. On the way back to the village Kagome was thinking. Is this why my arm has been hurting lately? But when was I bitten? I doesn't look like it's a normal bug bite or anything… I hope Keade knows what this is…And the mark is a strange blueish tint…I just hope this pain in my arm goes away soon…It's been bothering me since the day I got back…

The two girls arrived at Kaede's hut and entered. "Hello, how are ye?" She asked.

"We're good Lady Keade," Kagome answered, "but I have a mark on my arm, I'm not sure what it is. Would you mind taking a look?"

"Not at all child, come here." She motioned for Kagome to go closer. She did, and she knelt down, then lowered her shirt to show just below her shoulder. Keade frowned, "This is a bite…But not from any insect…This mark has a strange color. I will return in a moment, I need to get some special herbs to see what made this mark on ye, child." Kagome nodded, and waited for Keade to return. When she did come back, she used various herbs to test the bite. First she ruled out insect bites. Next it was animal. The bite was obviously not human, for it looked like fang marks, so there was nothing left to test—but demon. The herbs proved it.

Kagome frowned deeply, "I haven't been bitten by a demon. In the past few days, we've only come across two demons…The Iyashii demon and the one today. I certainly wasn't bitten today…Keade, what kind of affect will this bite have on me?"

Keade rubbed her temples in though. "I am not sure…It would depend on the demon." She smiled. "But I don't think it will be serious, a demon bite usually does not have a large effect on humans."

Kagome smiled in relief and stood, "I'll be right back." She exited the priestess' hut and started walking towards the thick forest. She found the hanyou in his favorite old tree. She called up, "Inuyasha?"

He had known she was coming, he could smell her sweet scent a mile away. He didn't even look in her direction, he just grunted a "Yeah."

"Um…We need to talk…"He found this a strange thing for her to say. She waited for a response. When she didn't receive one she called out "Are you coming down or am I coming up there." A small grunt escaped his lips as he jumped from the tree. Landing gracefully on the soft forest carpet, he wrapped he arm around the mikos petite waist, and for the second time in the past few days, he leaped into the tree with Kagome.

She balanced herself on the large branch and looked at the half-demon who was waiting for her to speak. "I…well…"

"Spit it out!" he forcefully said.

"Ok ok! You remember two days ago when we fought that demon…Iyashii?"

"Yeah."

"He…didn't…bite me…did he?"

Inuyasha has been looking off into the distance at this point. His attention snapped back to her, "What? Bite you? Who bit you? How careless can you be to get bitten?"

Kagome suddenly found interest in her fingernails, she stared sheepishly at them. "I didn't do it on purpose! Keade says a demon bit me, but I should be fine."

"Show me."

"What?"

"You heard me, show me the mark."

Kagome unbuttoned a few buttons, and slid her sleeve farther down her silky, creamy skin. This gave the half-demon a strange feeling of lust for the young miko. He pushed it away and inspected the mark. "Are you sure Keade said it will be alright?" He asked, trying to mask the concern from his voice. Even though he always acted tough, Kagome saw when the softer side surfaced. He was sometimes even worried. She smiled at him and leaned against him. "Yeah, I'll be fine. As long as that Iyashii didn't try to take a bite, I'm good." It was Inuyasha's turn to smile, a rare action for this demon to make. Only this young priestess could bring emotion from him. And strangely enough when Kagome leant against him, the pain was gone. For a split second she wondered if Inuyasha would…She immediately pushed the outrageous thought from her head. The demon suggested they go back to the hut to sleep, and Kagome agreed.

When they arrived back to the hut, the others were already in peaceful slumbers. Kagome sat next to Inuyasha. But he pulled her into his lap and wrapped his strong arms around her. She felt safe in his arms, so even though this surprised her, she snuggled into his warm haori and the two drifted into a dreamless, but content, sleep.

Comes out with hands up Don't shoot! I'm sorry for the few fans I have that this chapter took so long, but I worked all night to finish this one! Be proud of me! 4 and a half pages. So enjoy! And please let me know what you think! That means R&R!